(BREAKING) Iran: 'We Have No Option but to Destroy Israel'

In reaction to the recent assassination of Iranian scientistDariush Rezaiinejad, chief commander of the Basij Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Naghdi stated:

The main plot for this criminal act was conceived by the American government, and since it is scared of the reaction by the Muslim world due to the uprisings in the region, it had the Zionist regime commit the heinous act.

...

In order to protect the security of our country, we have no option but to have the Zionist regime wiped off the map.

Naghdi, who was born in Iraq, was a member of the Iranian Quds Force involved in international terrorism before he was appointed by Ayatollah Khamenei to the post of commander of the Basij in 2009. He has previously threatened to assassinate American generals in retaliation for the killings of the Iranian nuclear scientists.

Last Saturday, the Iranian scientist was gunned down outside his home in Tehran by assailants on a motorcycle. Since then, the state-owned Iranian media has sent out conflicting reports: first, that the scientist was a physicist involved in Iran’s nuclear program; later, that he was just a student studying for a master’s degree in electricity.

Iran’s Fars News Agency, operated by the Revolutionary Guards, claimed that the scientist was one of the researchers working on electric detonators which can be used on missiles or nuclear bombs. They stated that it was because of this activity that he was assassinated by the enemy.

The reaction by Iranian officials indicates that the slain scientist was an integral and important part of the Iranian nuclear bomb program. Said Tehran Governor General Morteza Tamadon to reporters during Dariush Rezaiinejad’s funeral procession in Tehran:

Undoubtedly, this was an American-Israeli project against our intellectuals and thinkers, with the aim of discouraging the Iranian nation from continuing the path it has taken.